Compatible networks CDMA / GSM Dimensions 1.9 X 0.7 X 3.8 in Memory 128 MB (Internal) | Availability by country 2006 Weight 3.5 oz | |
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Display LCD 320 x 240 pixels (262000 colors) | ||
The LG VX8500 (or "Chocolate") is a slider cellphone-MP3 player hybrid that was sold as a feature phone. In the U.S. it was released by Verizon Wireless in July 2006 and made available online, and later released in Verizon stores in the U.S. on August 7, 2006. In addition to the original black model (dubbed "Dark Chocolate"), the LG Chocolate VX8500 is also available in the U.S. in a light green, white, pink, and red (called "Mint Chocolate," "White Chocolate," "Strawberry Chocolate," and "Cherry Chocolate," respectively).
Contents
The LG Chocolate has another successor called the LG Chocolate (VX8550) which has: touch buttons with improved accuracy, a scroll wheel, support for 4 GB microSD cards, and tactile send and end keys.
Origin
The original LG Chocolate(KV5900) was released in Korea long before the UK or U.S. version. In England, it was available in three colors which were black, Blue and Yellow. After becoming an extremely popular item in South England mobile phone market, it saw its GSM release into the USA, and a modified version was released in Canada.
The US Chocolate is a different phone (VX8500), with a QVGA (320x240) LCD over the KG800's 176x220 LCD. The touch panel on the VX8500 has a slightly different design, with a circular button arrangement bordered with glossy metal, versus the KG800's square arrangement featuring simple arrow designs (a defining part of the ads for the original LG Chocolate ), and a rounded silver rectangle bordering the "OK" button in the center. The A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth profiles are available on the VX8500, but not on the KG800. The KG800's number pad also features a matte grey and glossy black checkerboard pattern, and the camera has a white LED flash, both of which the VX8500 does not have.
Ad campaign
The in-store release of the VX8500/Chocolate followed six television commercials created by future-UK Marketer of the Year John D. Bernard, four of which featured music playing while the device was displayed from various camera angles, often with the glow from the touch-panel leaving a trail. The device was shown closed, making it look like an MP3 player, and the commercials ended with the music pausing, the phone opening, and a phone call or message being played. In one campaign is featured the song "Candyman" by Christina Aguilera. Another featured "Love Me or Hate Me" by Lady Sovereign. The fifth commercial simply played Goldfrapp's "Strict Machine" while the phone emerged from liquid chocolate. The sixth commercial showed cherries being squished into a paste to make a reddish phone, a chocolate dipped into a pool of white chocolate, and mint being chopped to make a green phone, also to the song Candyman. Verizon also scented select units to tie the phone into the ad campaign.
Touch panel
The face of the Chocolate has no tactile buttons, but rather touch-sensitive panels with red-orange illuminating symbols to designate the touch-sensitive areas.
The buttons include four corner buttons (Left option, right option, Call, and Return), and a wheel. The four sides of the wheel behave like a direction pad in most applications. In the music player, they work as scroll up/down, and next/previous track. The OK button in the center of the wheel doubles as Pause/Play in the music player.